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Important! Please Read This Notice!All information provided in these articles is based either on personal experience or information provided by others whose treatments and practices have been discussed fully with a vet for accuracy and effectiveness before passing them on to readers.
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So.. What does this all mean?

Simply put.. the
numbers of coccidia in the small and large intestine, do damage to the
walls of the intestine making nutritional absorption almost nil-
there by basically starving the goat internally. The oocysts also kill
off the mucosal lining and the intestine can become necrotic, dying off
and leaving the goat with the inability to absorb nutrients form the
food they eat.. Goats
who have had severe cases of coccidiosis, and survive may never be
fully able to grow, add weight and thrive like a goat who has not had
intestinal damage. All livestock have coccidia, it is when something
stressful happens to the animal that the parasite increases in
horrendous numbers and does the damage it does.

Numerous species of Eimeria are found in goats in North America. The Eimeria spp are host-specific and are not transmitted from sheep to goats. E arloingi , E christenseni , and E ovinoidalis are highly pathogenic in kids.

Clinical signs include

diarrhea with or without mucus or blood

dehydration

emaciation

weakness

anorexia

and death.

Some goats are actually constipated and die acutely without diarrhea. Usually, stages and lesions are confined to the small intestine, which may appear congested, hemorrhagic, or ulcerated, and have scattered pale, yellow to white macroscopic plaques in the mucosa.

Histologically, villous epithelium is sloughed, and inflammatory cells are seen in the lamina propria and submucosa. In addition, there have been several reports of hepatobiliary coccidiosis with liver failure in dairy goats.

Diagnosis of intestinal coccidiosis is based on finding oocysts of the pathogenic species in diarrheal feces, usually at tens of thousands to millions per gram of feces. It is not unusual to find oocyst counts as high as 70,000 in kids without overt disease, but weight gain may be affected.

Angora and dairy goats, raised under different management practices, may have similar patterns of exposure of kids. Just after parturition, nursery pens and surrounding areas may be heavily contaminated with oocysts from does.

Resistance to infection is decreased just after shipping, changing rations, introducing new animals, or mixing young with older animals. Coccidiostats can be administered to a herd immediately after diagnosis or as a preventive in predictable situations such as those mentioned above.Merck Veterinary Manual

Coccidia Lifecycle Phases

EXTERNAL PHASE (grass, feed or water contaminated with feces)After sporulation, the oocyst
is able to withstand commercial cleansers and disinfectants
and can survive and remain in the environment for years.

Step 1
The sporulated oocyst is a mature egg containing 4 sporocysts,
each with 2 sporozoites.

SUBCLINICAL PHASE(small intestine)
Subclinical coccidial infections damage the villi of
the small intestine and can reduce
nutrient absorption.

Step 2
After the sporulated oocyst is ingested and exposed
to carbon dioxide and digestive
enzymes in the hostâs digestive tract, it splits
open (or excysts) and releases its
8 sporozoites.

Step 3
Each highly motile sporozoite swims or glides to the
small intestine.
Step 4
3 to 7 days after ingestion, sporozoites enter the small
intestine and reproduce asexually
through a budding process called schizogony (completed
Day 5 through Day 10). Each
sporozoite can produce up to 120,000 first-generation
merozoites, which are released
when the host cell bursts.

Step 5
These merozoites undergo another asexual division in
the lower small intestine and
upper large intestine. Each first-generation merozoite
can produce 30 second-generation
merozoites.

Step 6
Second-generation merozoites penetrate the large intestine,
differentiating themselves as
either male (microgametes) or female (macrogametes)
and begin the sexual stage of the
life cycle.

Step 7
A microgamete fertilizes a macrogamete to produce a
zygote. The zygote forms a
protective wall and becomes an oocyst, which causes
the host cells to rupture.EXTERNAL PHASE(feces,
contaminated grass, feed or water)
After sporulation, the oocyst is able to withstand commercial
cleansers and disinfectants
and can survive and remain in the environment for years.

Step 8
The oocyst is passed, along with tissue and fluids from
the ruptured cells, in the feces.
At this stage the oocyst is unsporulated (immature)
and is not infective.

Step 9
In the presence of oxygen, the oocyst undergoes a process
called sporulation. It takes
2 to 4 days for an oocyst to become a sporulated oocyst,
capable of infecting cattle.
A single oocyst can produce up to 23 million oocysts
during the next life cycle.

Coccidia Reproduction

A single sporulated oocyst has the potential to turn
into 23 million oocysts after
just 21 days inside the host animal. During asexual
division, one sporulated oocyst
divides into 8 sporozoites, each of which can divide
into 120,000 first-generation
merozoites (a total of up to 960,000).

Coccidia Facts in Cattle (same applies to Goats)

Coccidia are obligate intracellular parasites
and must return to the host to continue their life cycle.

The coccidia life cycle is a continuous process,
with reinfection occurring daily.

Cattle routinely ingest thousands of oocysts
each day through feces, contaminated feed and water, or by preening their own coat or licking that of another animal.

As few as 50 thousand oocysts can cause severe disease in the calf.

Cattle can develop immunity to coccidia after
extended subclinical infection.

The most effective way to manage coccidial infections
is a combination of preventive and treatment measures.

Single cell
oocysts are passed in the feces of cattle, are resistant to disinfectants,
and can remain in the environment (particularly moist, shady areas) for
long periods of time (years) and maintain their infectivity.